Human Rights Report 2009 compiled by HINDRAF

Human Rights Report 2009 Compiled by

HINDRAF MAKKAL SAKTHI

On Human Rights Violations Against the Ethnic Minority Malaysian Indians. HRP Briefing for foreign and diplomatic missions in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia on 26/3/2010.

By Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy Barrister at Law (Lincoln’s Inn) Chairman of HINDRAF, Malaysia

Human Rights Party Malaysia (HRP) No6, Jalan Abdullah, Off Jalan Bangsar, 59000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Tel:03-22825241 Fax:03-22825245 Website:www.humanrightspartymalaysia.com Email:info@humanrightspartymalaysia

1

DEDICATION

This report is graciously dedicated to the many brave and courageous Malaysian Indians who responded to a unique call by HINDRAF to assembly at the famous Kuala Lumpur Twin Towers on the historical date of 25 November 2007. The thousands of supporters who had defied the riot police request to disperse from the site were subjected to heavy beatings; faced chemical laced water cannons and tear gas fired at them.

Many hundreds suffered injuries, with one fatality reported, and 241 arrested, detained and maliciously prosecuted by the authorities.

Proud Malaysian-born Indians of third, fourth and fifth generations courageously stood against the tyranny of the ethno-centric Malay-Muslim UMNO Party led Malaysian government on that historic day. The government’s stance on that eventual day highlighted the extent of State sanctioned tyranny, bully tactics, racial and religious discrimination; traits of which draw parallel to the autocratic and oppressive government of Zimbabwe, as well as the Serbian government which indulged in the unpalatable policy of ethnical cleansing of the ethnic Kosovans in Serbia.

Since the heroic day, a change has come over the previously voiceless working-class ethnic Malaysian Indians who now have the courage to speak out against their enforced circumstances that has led to them being disenfranchised by the system. This report is dedicated to all of the working-class Indians in Malaysia who seek to redress their positions within the Malaysian society.

2

INTRODUCTION TO THE REPORT

There was a genuine and natural feeling of harmony and a sense of co-existence in the preindependence 1957 days; but for 52 years after the independence, the majority Malaya led UNMO government has pursued a racially biased and religious preference of the majority Malaya group over the ethnic minority Indians.

Despite the years of independence, the ethnic Indians have yet to enjoy true independence because of the continued positive discrimination of the ethnic Malaysian Indians underpinned by the behaviour of the neo colonialist UMNO controlled Malaysian government.

As evidence of the serious breaches of atrocities against the Malaysian citizens of Indian origin, we have set out cogent examples of cases studies however we seriously lack current empirical figures or studies on the issues because of the government’s refusal to release such figures for comparative studies. We have therefore relied on government press statements announcing official policies and limited statistics in preparing our report. We have also included where we can, photographs (filed towards the end of the report) which are of distressing nature as evidence of police brutality and impunity openly tolerated by the government and which is in line with the government’s racially biased policies towards the minority Indians.

It is therefore against the backdrop of such long sufferings by the minority Indians that the movement of HINDRAF was born, initially to address the various pressing social issues that has led to our current position. HINDRAF, on behalf of the minority Malaysian Indians, continues to pursue the 18-Point Demands set out in our letter dated 12 August 2007 addressed to the former Prime Minister Mr Badawi and the then Deputy Prime Minister Mr Najib Razak, effectively demanding equal treatment for all ethnic Indians as Malaysian citizens to be granted in line with the majority Malays equal upward mobility opportunities and elimination of State sanctioned and institutionalized discrimination against the Malaysia Indians and the inclusion of the Indian Malaysians into the national mainstream development of Malaysia.

In the aftermath of the HINDRAF 25th November 2007 peaceful rally, the Malaysian government has spent millions of taxpayers’ money to confuse and divide the unity we experienced as Malaysian Indians. We are confident that HINDRAF will re-gain our ground, which we achieved on 25 Nov 2007 and bring about the change that is necessary for the well-being of our people. HINDRAF enjoys national support as it has been reported that it would be difficult to find a Malaysian Indian who does not sympathise with HINDRAF. A young pupil named, Miss Tharani who achieved 8-A1’s and 2-A2’s in her SPM exams wrote the following me, “I dedicate my success to you (Mr P. Waytha Moorthy) as you are my inspiration. Your strong will and determination to remain strong against all odds has inspired me. My true ambition is to be the Indian who will liberate the Indians in this country.

I am currently pursuing ACCA. Sir, thanks a lot for inspiring me and teaching me a valuable lesson in life. Makkal Sakthi by Tharani (HINDRAF. Org 14/3/09).

HINDRAF’s political wing, the Human Rights Party (HRP) of Malaysia led by P.Uthayakumar, as the Secretary General has developed an ambitious approach to advance Indian Political Empowerment Strategy to gain 15 Parliamentary seats and 38 Council states in the 2012/13 General Elections.

3

INDEX 1.0

Background information On Malaysia 1.1 History of Malaysia 1.2 Recent Events and Political Developments 2.0 Human Rights 2.1 Overview 3.0 Law Justice & the Federal Constitution 3.1 Statistics and Cases complied by HRP, Malaysia 4.0 Security Forces 4.1 Police 4.2 Abuse of Security Forces 4.3 Arbitrary Arrest and Detention 4.4 Involvement in Crime & Summary Killings of Indians Suspects of Criminal Activities 4.5 Statistics and Cases complied by HRP, Malaysia 5.0 Prison Conditions 5.1 Torture and Abuse in Prisons 5.2 Statistics and Cases complied by HRP, Malaysia 6.0 Political Affiliation 6.1 Opposition Groups and Political Activities 6.2 Statics and Cases complied by HRP, Malaysia 7.0 Freedom of Association and Assembly 8.0 Freedom of Religion 8.1 Real Threat & Actual Demolition of Hindu Temples, Hindu Burial Grounds and Hindu Settlements 8.2 Statistics and cases complied by HRP, Malaysia 8.3 No Permanent Land for Indian Places of Worship, Burial Grounds and Tamil Schools 8.4 Other use of Public Land 9.0 Forced Religious Conversion 9.1 Cases and Statistics complied by HRP, Malaysia 10.0 Poverty Amongst Indians 10.1 Statistics and Cases complied by HRP, Malaysia 10.2 Federal Government Poverty Eradication & Social Development Programs & Schemes 10.3 Statistics and Cases compiled by HRP, Malaysia 11.0 Licences & Permits For Traders & Regulated Occupation 11.1 Statistics and Cases complied by HRP, Malaysia 11.2 Government Contracts & Entrepreneur Programs 11.3 Statistics and Cases complied by HRP, Malaysia 12.0 Housing 12.1 Statistics and Cases complied by HRP, Malaysia

4

13.0 Suicide in the Indian Community 13.1 Statistics and Cases compiled by HRP, Malaysia 14.0 Government Fund Allocations in the Federal Government Budget 14.1 Statistics and Cases compiled by HRP, Malaysia 15.0 Children 16.0 Citizenship and Nationality 16.1 Statistics and Cases compiled by HRP, Malaysia 17.0 Education 17.1 Statistics and Cases compiled by HRP, Malaysia 17.2 Skills and Vocational & Technical Training 17.3 Secondary School Education 17.4 Primary School Education 17.5 Statistics and Cases compiled by HRP, Malaysia 17.6 Pre-School Education 17.7 Statistics and Cases compiled by HRP, Malaysia 18.0 Human Rights – Specific Issues 18.1 Statistics and Cases compiled by HRP, Malaysia 19.0 Attachments and Acknowledgements

5

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON MALAYSIA 1.0 Demography Full Country Name: The Federation of Malaysia Area: Total area 329,758 sq km (127,317 sq miles) Population: 26m (2005) Capital City: Kuala Lumpur (population: 1.5m), Putrajaya (Administrative capital) People: Bumiputra (mostly Malays) (65.7%), Chinese (25.4%), Indians (7.6%). Others (1.3%) Languages: Bahasa Malaysia (Malay) is the national language. Other languages include Chinese, Tamil and Iban. English is widely used.

Religion(s): Muslim 55%, Buddhist 17%, Taoist 12%, Christian 7%, Hindu 7% Animist/Other 2% Currency: Ringgit Malaysia (RM) Major Political Parties: “Malaysian political parties are distinguished more by their differing racial compositions than by competing political philosophies. The Government has been dominated since Independence by the Barisan Nasional (BN), a coalition of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), plus a series of smaller parties (mainly from the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak and reflecting, their complex ethnically mixed populations).

The main opposition parties are the Democratic Action Party (DAP), the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).”

Government: “Constitutional Monarchy: the King (Yang di-Pertuan Agong) is drawn on a rotating 5-year basis from the Sultans and hereditary rulers of the states of the Malay Peninsula.”

Head of State (Agong): Duli Yang Maha Mulia Al-Wathiqu Billah Tuanku Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah

Prime Minister: Dato Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak Foreign Minister: Y.B. Datuk Anifah bin Haji Aman Membership of International Groupings/Organisations: “Malaysia is a member of the Commonwealth, the UN, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC). Malaysia is also the current Chair of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)”. (Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Country Profile: Malaysia 3 September 2007 [4a] 1.1 History of Malaysia “1957: Independence for the Federation of Malaya (mainland Peninsular states).

1963: Formation of the Federation of Malaysia, comprising the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak.

1965: Singapore left the Federation.

1969: Inter-racial riots led to the introduction in 1971 of 20-year New Economic Policy (NEP) aimed at alleviating causes of the tension through enhancing the bumiputra (Malay) economic position.

1971 – Present: Country experienced rapid economic growth and industrialisation (with a major but temporary downturn in 1997/98).

1981: Dr Mahathir Mohamad became Prime Minister.

1997/1998: Asian Economic Crisis.

1999: General election returned the Barisan Nasional to power with a reduced, but still two-thirds majority.

2003: Dr Mahathir stepped down; succeeded by his Deputy, Abdullah Badawi 2004: General election on 21 March resulted in a landslide win by the UMNOled Barisan Nasional coalition.” (FCO Country Profile, 3 September 2007 [4a] 6

“The Federation of Malaya achieved independence in 1957 under its first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, who oversaw the introduction of the country's multi-ethnic coalition style of government, led by the majority Malays with a Westminster style of constitution. The Federation of Malaysia, formed in 1963, comprises the Malay Peninsula and the Borneo territories of Sabah and Sarawak. The country embodies a mixture of races and cultures resulting from successive migrations and exposure to external religious and cultural influences. Immediately after its formation, the Federation faced hostility until 1967 from Indonesia (known as the period of 'Confrontation'). Relations thereafter improved notably, assisted by the formation in 1968 of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) of which Malaysia was a founder member.” (FCO Country Profile, 3 September 2007) [4a] 1.2

Recent Events and Political Developments

Elections take place every five years. the USSD Report 2006 noted: “Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy with a population of approximately 26.6 million. It has a parliamentary system of government headed by a prime minister selected through periodic multiparty elections. The National Front, a coalition of political parties dominated by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), has held power since 1957.

The most recent national elections, in March 2004, were conducted in a generally transparent manner, but the opposition complained of the ruling coalition's exploitation of the powers of incumbency. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces.” [2a] As noted by BBC Timeline, updated 5 June 2007, in December 2004 scores of people in Malaysia were killed in the Asian tsunami disaster. In March 2005 illegal Immigrants were rounded up following a previous four month amnesty whereby there was an exodus of hundreds of thousands of illegal workers. In May 2007 the former Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim attempted to make political comeback but lost an acrimonious by-election. [7b] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia noted the following on the ‘2008 political Tsunami’ in Malaysia: Political parties were reported to have begun preparations for the polls as early as January 2008.[2] As in 2004, the incumbent Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, the ruling political alliance since independence, as well as opposition parties represented primarily by Democratic Action Party (DAP), the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) contested the election.

As with all preceding general elections following independence, the parliamentary election was won by BN, but yielded one of the worst results in the coalition's history. Opposition parties had won 82 seats (out of 222 seats in parliament) or 36.9% of parliamentary seats, while BN only managing to secure the remaining 140 seats or 63.1%. It marked also the first time since the 1969 election that the coalition did not win a two-thirds supermajority in the Malaysian Parliament required to pass amendments to the Malaysian Constitution. In addition, 5 of 13 state legislatures were won by the opposition, compared with only one in the last election.[3]

7

2.0

HUMAN RIGHTS

2.1

Overview

The USSD 2006 Country Report on Malaysia stated: “The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. The government abridged citizens' right to change their government. The government maintained no independent body to investigate deaths that occurred during apprehension by police or while in police custody. Other problems included police abuse of detainees, overcrowded prisons, use of the Emergency Ordinance and other statutes to arrest and detain persons without charge or trial, and persistent questions about the impartiality and independence of the judiciary. The government continued to restrict freedom of press, association, and assembly and placed some restrictions on freedom of speech, including prohibitions of organized public discussions about "sensitive" religious topics. Violence against women remained a problem. The country was a destination and transit point for trafficking in women and girls for the purposes of prostitution and domestic servitude. Longstanding government policies gave preferences to ethnic Malays in many areas. Workers' rights were impeded by long court backlogs and limitations on the right to organize unions in some industries. Migrant workers faced some discrimination and exploitation.” [2a] Amnesty International (AI) 2007 Annual Report noted: “The year ended without the government fulfilling its pledge to establish an independent police complaints commission. At least 80 men accused of links to Islamist extremist groups were held without charge or trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA). Freedom of expression, association and assembly continued to be constrained by restrictive laws.

People suspected of being irregular migrants or asylum-seekers were harassed and detained in harsh conditions pending deportation. Hundreds of people, mostly alleged irregular migrants, were imprisoned or caned after unfair trials. Death sentences continued to be passed and four executions were carried out.” [11a] Human Rights Watch World Report 2007 noted: “When he took office three years ago, there were great hopes that Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi would make a break with the poor human rights record of his predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad. Badawi raised hopes when he promised good governance and human rights improvement. While there has been a reduction of pressure on human rights groups and lawyers, there has been virtually no institutional reform. The Badawi administration has failed to dismantle the legal framework that allows security officials to detain persons indefinitely without charge or trial. Recommendations by the government-appointed Royal Commission to Enhance the Royal Malaysia Police to amend and repeal such laws and to set up an independent commission to oversee the Royal Malaysia Police have yet to be implemented. Abuses against refugees and migrants continue to be reported and public discussions on inter-faith issues and religious freedom are restricted.” [5a] 3.0

LAW JUSTICE AND THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION

Overview The Human Rights Party of Malaysia (HRP) in 2009 noted the following:

8

“The senior members of the Courts, the Attorney General, the Police, the Armed Forces, the Administration, the UMNO leaders and beneficiaries form a significant part of the Power elite of the country. As such they are the ones HINDRAF seeks to challenge. In doing so, HINDRAF has become a focus of target for the government. HINDRAF receives no support from the government which has attempted at every level and opportunity to reduce the influence of HINDRAF. The government continues to muzzle HINDRAF by pursuing frivolous charges of sedition against P Uthayakumar (Legal Advisor of HINDRAF) by using the judiciary that is heavily comprised and influenced by the UMNO led government. The government has also denied HINDRAF media access. HINDRAF continues to be outlawed by the government in spite of the authorities having no evidence at all of any security threat posed by HINDRAF. The Police who act with total disregard for the rule of law continue to pursue a government approved policy that shows zero tolerance towards Indians who are arrested and detained in custody on suspicion of a crime or killed during what the government calls ‘encounters’. The average Indian detainee who is suspected of a criminal offence cannot expect any justice from the already compromised Judiciary which works hand in glove with the economic elite, the UMNO, of the country. The federal government along with the State DAP government were recently responsible for the eviction of an entire traditional Indian village called Kampung Buah Pala” in Penang despite valiant attempts by HINDRAF to stop the process.

3.1 Factual background recorded by the HRP, Malaysia based on newspaper articles in Malaysian newspapers: •

Most of the 241 participants who were arrested on 25 Nov 2007 at the HINDRAF Rally were forced to plead guilty for rebelling against the dominantly biased UMNO government. (Reference source: New Straits Times(NST); dated 17/12/09; page 12).

HINDRAF Legal Advisors, P. Uthayakumar and Manoharan Malayalam both of whom actively championed and campaigned against the direct racial and religious discrimination and exclusion of Indians from mainstream development of Malaysia were particularly targeted by the authorities who detained the lawyers under draconian laws namely, the Internal Security Act (ISA). The lawyers who were denied bail and fair trail were detained under inhumane conditions for 514 days until 9 May 2009 when they were released.

•

The HINDRAF lawyer P. Uthayakumar is currently standing trial for Sedition charges for having used the term “ethnic cleansing” and raising “ethnic cleansing” issues against the Malaysian government at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Harare in 2007. Uthayakumar had relied on recorded account of Indians injured and killed in an incident commonly known as the ‘Kampung Medan’ racial attack, which to date, has not been investigated by the authorities and had also highlighted reported incidents that on an average one temple per week was demolished in Malaysia during Khir Toyo’s reign in Selangor in 2006/2007.

•

The authorities are pursuing the trial of P Uthayakumar in an overzealous attitude to secure a conviction that is likely to attract three years of imprisonment, which in turn would potentially prevent him from participating in the next General Elections. P. Uthayakumar is reported to have remarked that his only crime against the State is to have spoken up for the Indians in Malaysia against the racist UMNO government policies.

•

The UMNO led government has pursued every angle to discredit everyone linked with HINDRAF for example, HINDRAF’s application for registration with the authorities on the unsubstantiated allegation that HINDRAF links with the LTTE. Despite various calls by HINDRAF to support the government’s ill founded allegation, 9

the authorities have failed to produce any evidence to support their baseless allegation. HINDRAF in the meantime remains outlawed. Officials of the movement are confident that the real basis for the refusal of registration by the authorities is for no other reason than their support for the poor and marginalized Indians. The government continues to outlaw the organization in total disregard of its Constitutional provision for freedom of association.

•

On the number of fatalities in detention, the HRP, Malaysia has noted that from 2003 to 2007 1,535 ethnic Indian detainees died and or killed in police custody (see NST 11/11/09, page 20). 99% of cases involving police custody deaths of ethnic Indians have not been investigated to date and no police officer has been brought to account for those murders.

•

In one high profile prosecution only one police officer was prosecuted after much public pressure for the use of unlawful force to extort confession from a 22 year old ethnic Indian detainee who met a gruesome death at the hand of the authorities who had subjected the victim to the most horrific forms of ill treatment [photographs of the victim are annexed at the back of the report]. Given the attitude of the Malaysian Police and Courts there is reasonable doubt that anything significant will result from the single prosecution. The family of victim, Kugan, do not expect any justice for their son.

•

In September 2009, the Federal Court of Appeals heard a dispute brought by villagers from ‘Kampung Buah Pala’ over the ownership of land which had been occupied by fourth and fifth generation settlers born on the land. The High Court of Penang initially ruled that the ownership issue needed to be settled in court; however the Federal court of Appeals which ruled that the villagers lacked ‘locus standi’ treated the villagers as squatters and handed ownership of the land to the developers without really settling the issue of ownership of village land. The court reached its decision despite the present state government declaring on several occasions that the land had indeed been stolen from the ‘poor Indian villagers’.. The Higher courts in Malaysia took no recognizance of the issue of justice. The only traditional Indian village on the Penang Island dating back to 200 years of settlement was subsequently demolished and its residents displaced under the guise of law and justice.

4.0

SECURITY FORCES

4.1

Police

The USSD 2008 Country Report on Malaysia notes: “The Royal Malaysia Police is under the command of the inspector general of police, who reports to the home minister. The inspector general is responsible for organizing and administering the police force. The government has some mechanisms to investigate and punish abuse and corruption. There were reports that security forces acted with impunity during the year.

Several NGOs conducted local surveys on government corruption and identified the police as among the country's most corrupt government organizations. Additional data indicated 73 percent of those surveyed perceived the government's anticorruption efforts as "ineffective 10

or very ineffective." Reported police offenses included accepting bribes, theft, and rape.

Punishments included suspension, dismissal, and demotion. Police officers are subject to trial by the civil courts. Police representatives reported that there were disciplinary actions against police officers during the year.

The government continued to focus police reform efforts on improving salaries, quarters, and general living conditions of police officers. However, the status of other reforms, including the formation of an independent police complaints and misconduct commission, remained pending at year's end. NGOs complained that the government's reform efforts lacked transparency�.

4.2

Abuse by the Security Forces

The USSD 2008 Country Report on Malaysia noted: “Security forces failed to prevent or respond to some incidents of societal violence. During the year, the police accompanied demonstrators and allowed them to forcibly disrupt a Bar Council forum on religious conversions.

Reported abuses by RELA members included rape, beatings, extortion, theft, pilfering homes, destroying UNHCR and other status documents, and pillaging refugee settlements.

In January RELA members allegedly looted a makeshift Burmese refugee camp, taking anything of value, including money, cell phones, blankets, and crafts made and sold by the refugees to earn money; burned the camp down; and detained 23 persons and took them to IDCs. The government did not release information on how it investigated complaints against RELA members or how it administered disciplinary action.�

4.3

Arbitrary Arrest and Detention

The USSD 2008 Country Report on Malaysia noted: The constitution stipulates that no person may be incarcerated unless in accordance with the law. However, the law allows investigative detention to prevent a criminal suspect from fleeing or destroying evidence while police conduct an investigation. Four laws also permit preventive detention to incarcerate an individual suspected of criminal activity or to prevent a person from committing a future crime. Such laws severely restrict, and in some cases eliminate, access to timely legal representation and a fair public trial.

The law permits police to arrest individuals for some offenses without a warrant and hold suspects for 24 hours without charge. A magistrate may extend this initial detention period for up to two weeks. Although police generally observed these provisions, a 2005 police commission report noted that police sometimes released suspects and then quickly rearrested them and held them in investigative custody. The law allows an arrested individual the right to be informed of the grounds of his arrest by the police officer making the

11

arrest. Police must inform detainees that they are allowed to contact family members and consult a lawyer of their choice.

Police often denied detainees’ access to legal counsel and questioned suspects without giving them access to counsel. Police justified this practice as necessary to prevent interference in ongoing investigations, and judicial decisions generally upheld the practice.

The commission stated that an "arrest first, investigate later" mentality pervaded some elements of the police force and recommended that detention procedures be reviewed to prevent abuse. On some occasions law enforcement agencies did not promptly allow access to family members.

Prison overcrowding, concentrated in facilities near major cities, remained a serious problem. In July the Home Ministry reported that the prisoner population at the country's 29 prisons was 28 percent above capacity. Local and international NGOs estimated most of the country's 16 IDCs were at or beyond capacity, with some detainees held for a year or more.”

4.4

Involvement in Crime and summary killings of Indians suspected of criminal activities

The HRP, Malaysia found the following: The steady increase in crime rate reflects the corruption in the law enforcement agencies and their ineffectiveness as a law enforcement agency. The weakness in the law enforcement agency, which is riddled with corrupt officers is further undermined by its willingness to act in cohorts with the ruling government to overlook any misdeeds perpetrated by the ruling authorities. In return, the police force is immune from any prosecution of any crimes they may commit in the process of fulfilling their master’s bid and the danger of such an alliance produces a police force that views itself above the law. An additional factor to the increase in crime rate is the direct influence of the ever widening effects of marginalization experienced by the poverty line Indians. The involvement of Indian youths in crime is now a widely acknowledged fact in Malaysia.

To counter the rising trend in crime rate, the Police resort to brutal and violent methods to deal with the problem. There are well-documented instances where the police have used unlawful force and torturous means to extract confessions from detainees for their suspected activities. Most (more than 90%) of those killed whilst in Police custody are Indians suspected of committing crimes. The Police also practice a ‘shoot to kill’ policy codename ‘Police Encounters’. The Officers who act with impunity clearly violate the rule of law and the universal law of basic human rights.

4.5 Factual background recorded by the HRP, Malaysia based on newspaper articles reported in Malaysian newspapers:: In the last 18 years, crime rate rose by 300%.

•

The Human Resources Minister recently announced in Malaysian Parliament that 200,000 Indian youths are involved in crime. The age bracket of 15-34 year old Indian males makes up 330,000. Therefore, 60% of them are at a risk of being involved in crime. The acute problem, which requires multi faceted intervention to address the issue, is understood to have low priority with the government, which

12

•

• •

5.0

lacks the political will to avert the situation. The only known current policy towards the social problem is the alarming increase in police killings.

In November 2009, the police shot and killed 11 suspects – 10 of whom were Indians (see UM paper; dated Nov 12/2009). One of those killed; a youth named Surendran (referred to later on in the report) had a sister who attempted to kill herself and her 4 children following the murder of her brother, as he was the sole breadwinner in the family. The lady subsequently lost her battle to live leaving behind her four children.

95% of victims shot dead are by the police; 90% of the deaths in police and prison custody victims and 80% of victims who experience police harassment, unlawful arrests, frivolous and malicious prosecutions, inmates of police lock ups and prisons are ethnic Indians. This fact is significant when the Malaysian Indian population is a mere 8%.

PRISON CONDITIONS

The USSDR 2009 noted: Prison overcrowding was a serious problem. In July, Suhakam reported that overcrowding was a common feature in all prisons it visited. In August, the Government acknowledged that the nation's prisons held 42,284 inmates, 10,000 above designed capacity.

The law provides that young boys and girls may be placed in judicially approved places of detention. Children have the right to remain with their imprisoned mothers until the age of 3 years and can stay beyond that age with approval of the Director General of Prisons. Men and women were detained in separate facilities. Convicted prisoners were segregated from pretrial detainees.

Special security prisoners were detained in a separate detention center (see Section 1.d.). In 2003, a number of persons released from detention under the ISA claimed that during the initial stages of their detention they were subjected to intensive interrogation and disoriented by isolation, deliberately interrupted sleep, and abusive treatment by police (see Section 1.d.).

5.1

Torture and Abuses in Prisons

Under the provision for “c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment”, the USSD Report 2005 noted: “No constitutional provision or law specifically prohibits torture; however, laws that prohibit "committing grievous hurt" encompass torture. According to the Government, every report of abuse of prisoners is investigated; however, the Government routinely did not release information on the results of internal police investigations, and whether those responsible for abuses were punished was not always known. There were press reports of alleged torture or mistreatment by the police. Local NGOs stated that police sometimes subjected criminal suspects and illegal alien detainees to physical and psychological torture during interrogation and detention. In May, the international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated that some prisoners were subjected to sexually humiliating questioning and were made to stand seminaked for long periods. The Government denied these allegations. In July, Suhakam representatives visited the prison where the prisoners were allegedly mistreated and told the press that they found no evidence of such treatment.

In February, a coalition of 44 NGOs and 6 political parties called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to address instances of abuse of police powers. In April, the Prime Minister launched a National Integrity Plan directed at reducing corruption, graft, and abuse of power.

13

The Police Commission, which is chaired by Prime Minister Abdullah in his capacity as Internal Security Minister, reported that in 2003, disciplinary actions were initiated against 1,138 police personnel, compared with 1,012 in 2002. Offenses noted in the report included accepting bribes, theft, and rape; punishments included suspension, dismissal, and demotion. The report cited the strict monitoring effort aimed at improving the public image of the police force as the reason for the increase in the number of personnel sanctioned. In September, the press reported that during the year, plainclothes police regularly investigated police officers who appeared to be living beyond their means.

In 2003, the High Court reversed a Sessions Court's acquittal and convicted a police constable for the 2002 rape of two foreign women who were in custody at the time of the rape (see Section 5).

In February, police arrested 17 demonstrators and used water cannons forcibly to disperse dozens of others who were protesting alleged abuse of police powers (see Section 2.b.).

5.2

The HRP, Malaysia noted the following high profile case study :

Mr A. Kugan, a 22 year old youth of Indian origin, was taken into custody on suspicion of being involved in theft of cars by the police based at Taipan, Subang Jaya Police Station.

Whilst in detention, Kugan was repeatedly tortured for information. The unfortunate young man, Kugan later died from his horrific injuries sustained whilst in detention. Although his death was caused at the hands of at least 11 policemen only one officer was charged for the heinous crime against humanity. Unusually, the photographs of Kugan badly tortured body exist because HINDRAF and Kugan’s family members were able to take and release for publication in order to expose the bloody murder of the detainee (published by The Star Online dated 23/1/09). The report contains disturbing photographs of Kugan’s tortured body.

6.0

POLITICAL AFFILIATION

6.1

Opposition groups and political activists

The HRP, Malaysia noted the following on the functions of Opposition Political Parties in Malaysia: “2009 has been a year of revelation about the true position with regards to the poor and the marginalized by the opposition political parties which rose to power on the cries of Makkal Sakthi, a Hindraf rallying call in the 2008 general elections. It appears that they are more closely aligned with the ruling UMNO than they are with HINDRAF when it comes to the issues of the poor and marginalized. The opposition political parties use the same system of ‘Mandorism’ [Supervisor] against the poor Indians.

6.2 Factual background recorded by the HRP, Malaysia based on newspaper articles reported in Malaysian newspapers:: After two years in power by the opposition political parties, such as the PKR, DAP and PAS, HINDRAF and the HRP are disappointed to note that the opposition parties at state control level have demonstrated that their style of government is no different to the National Front government’s racist, religious extremist for the following reasons:•

The DAP Government of Penang despite its admission that the settlers of Kampung Buah Pala were ‘cheated’ of their land by the local council workers’ co operative and the property developer who bought the land from the co operative has failed to 14

• •

•

•

•

6.3

protect the villager’s right as well as to stay the eviction of the residents of Kampung Buah Pala against the Developers; PAS and PKR without due care and consideration of the local Indian community unilaterally demolished an old Hindu burial ground at Kg. Ladang Pekaka Kuala Ketil; The PKR Selangor state government also unilaterally demolished an ancient Hindu Temple based in Ampang in early 2010; The DAP, PAS & PKR collation Perak state government granted permanent land titles to 110, 000 Malays under the Rancangan Kampong Tersusun (RKT) project; 102,000 permanent land titles to Chinese New Villagers and 3.3 hectares of permanent land titles to the orang Asli (aboriginal tribe of Malaysia) and 10,000 hectares of permanent government land titles to nine Chinese Independent schools but yet nothing has been allocated for the 138 Tamil schools, Hindu temples and crematoriums in Perak.

The Selangor Indian Exco Mandore also failed to secure places for the 236 Tamil school students who had scored all ‘A’s in their UPSR at the full residential elite schools. The former Perak Indian Exco Mandore and the Kedah, Penang (Deputy DCM II) and Selangor Exco Mandors could not secure any state land for all of the Hindu temples, Tamil schools and crematoriums during their tenure .

HINDRAF and the HRP, Malaysia also noted that the opposition parties such as PAS, PKR and DAP use of [Indian] Mandores such as the use of the MIC by the ruling UMNO government to divert Indian orientated issues to the Indian Exco Mandors (State Ministers) in Kedah, Perak (earlier) and Selangor and the so-called Deputy Chief Minister II (DCM II) of Penang; however the Mandors invariably possess little or no mandate to deal or negotiate the issues in favour of the Indians [see examples above]. .

Freedom of Association and Assembly

The USSD 2005 Country Report on Malaysia noted: “The Constitution provides for freedom of peaceful assembly; however, in practice, the Government placed significant restrictions on this right. This right may be limited in the interest of security and public order, and the Police Act requires police permits for all public assemblies except for workers on picket lines. The decision to grant a permit theoretically rests with the district police chief; however, in practice, senior police officials and political leaders influenced the grant or denial of some permits. Police granted permits routinely to government and ruling coalition supporters; however, they used a more restrictive policy with government critics. In 2003, opposition activists attending a political forum organized by PAS were arrested for illegal assembly. Similarly, in 2003, an outdoor march in support of rape victims was cancelled after police refused a permit on grounds of "public security." However, in the period before the March elections the Elections Commission announced that public rallies by political parties would be permitted, subject to appropriate police permits. Although permits often were difficult to obtain due to the short duration (7 days) of the campaign period, police generally allowed many rallies to be held without interference (see Section 3).

During the year, Suhakam released its fourth annual report, which reiterated the Commission's earlier criticism of government imposed restrictions on freedom of assembly. In 2001, Suhakam released a report highlighting the fact that the right of assembly is provided for in the Constitution; it recommended easing police permits for gatherings, setting up a special "speaker's corner," and reviewing laws that restrict the right to free assembly. In April, police arrested 15 persons for taking part in an illegal assembly on the anniversary of the corruption conviction of Anwar Ibrahim. The 13 men and two women were arrested in front of Suhakam's offices in Kuala Lumpur.

The Constitution provides for the right of association; however, the Government placed significant restrictions on this right and certain statutes limit this right. Under the Societies Act, only registered, approved organizations of seven or more persons may function as societies. The

15

Government sometimes refused to register organizations or imposed conditions when allowing a society to register. The Government prohibited the Communist Party and affiliated organizations from registering and has blocked the registration of the Socialist Party of Malaysia since 1999 (see Section 1.f.). The Government also has the power to revoke the registration of an existing society for violations of the act, a power that it enforced selectively against political opposition groups.

The Universities and University Colleges Act also restricts freedom of association. This act mandates university approval for student associations and prohibits student associations and faculty members from engaging in political activity. Many students, NGOs, and opposition political parties called for the repeal or amendment of the act. A number of ruling coalition organizations and politicians also supported reexamination of the act, but the Government argued that the act still was necessary.�

7.0

FREEDOM OF RELIGION

The USSD 2005 Report on Malaysia noted: “ The Constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the Government placed some restrictions on this right. Sunni Islam is the official religion, and the practice of Islamic beliefs other than Sunni Islam was significantly restricted. Non-Muslims, which include large Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, and Sikh communities, were free to practice their religious beliefs with few restrictions. The Government provides financial support to an Islamic religious establishment and also provides more limited funds to non-Islamic religious communities.

State authorities impose Islamic religious laws administered through Islamic courts on all ethnic Malays (and other Muslims) in some matters but generally did not interfere with the religious practices of the non-Muslim community. In 2003, then-Prime Minister Mahathir used anti-Semitic language during his address to the summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Prime Minister Abdullah, who succeeded Mahathir 2 weeks after the OIC speech, subsequently emphasized religious tolerance towards all faiths. During the year, the Government promoted Islam "Hadhari," which emphasized tolerance towards other religions and a moderate, progressive interpretation of Islam.

The Registrar of Societies, under the Ministry of Home Affairs, registers religious organizations. Registration enables organizations to receive government grants and other benefits.

In practice, Muslims are not permitted to convert to another religion. In several recent rulings, secular courts have ceded jurisdiction to the Islamic courts in matters involving conversion to or from Islam. In 2000, an Islamic court sentenced four persons to 3-year prison terms for not recanting their alleged heretical beliefs and "return(ing) to the true teachings of Islam." The court rejected their argument that they were not subject to Islamic (Shari'a) law because they had ceased to be Muslims. Dismissing their appeal, the Court of Appeal ruled in 2002 that only the Islamic court is qualified to determine whether a Muslim has become an apostate. In July, the Federal Court upheld the Court of Appeal decision and returned the case to the Shari'a court to enforce the sentence.

7.1 Real threat and actual demolition of Hindu temples, Hindu burial ground or Indian Settlements On freedom of practice of the Hindu faith in Malaysia, the HRP, Malaysia noted: 16

This is a major contention issue between the marginalised needy Indians and the State controlled governments. On a regular basis, there are reports in the Malaysian dailies of some Indian structure somewhere in the country earmarked for demolition. The rights of the poor Indians are seldom acknowledge or respected in those situations and the State Governments tend to use their full might of State power and the media to manipulate public opinion, corruption and ‘Mandorism’ to evict the marginalised Indians who unaware of their entitlement are denied their legal ownership of land in majority of cases. Their historical occupation of the land in many cases appears not to count for much and any offer of compensation seldom matches their loss.

6.2 Factual background recorded by the HRP, Malaysia based on newspaper articles reported in Malaysian newspapers: •

• •

•

•

•

There are 23,000 Hindu temples and shrines in Malaysia (NST 4/5/09 page 11) but the government steadfastly refused to grant them land and gazette the same as they have for all Islamic places of worship; These Hindu temples are time bombs that can be demolished any time at the behest of the fundamentalist Malaysian Islamic authorities; The Kaliaman Hindu temple near Semambu had to be moved three times in a few years to avoid being demolished (see Times Newpaper; dated 18/2/09; page 13); As late as 22 December 2009, the local state opposition led party of the PAS, PKR and DAP in Kedah (North Malaysia) refused to preserve a Hindu Cemetery in the area of Ladang Pekaka Kuala Ketil that was over 100 years old in the memory of the Plantation Indian Community settled by the British to work on the estates was partly demolished on 16 December 2009 and finally demolished on 22 December 2009; Under the watch of the former Selangor Chief Minister Khir Toyo up to 2007 on an average one Hindu temple was demolished each week (reply given to question by Mr Manoharan Malayalam, the Legislative Member for Kota Alam Shah in early 2008 at the State Legislative Assembly); In early September 2009, Malay Muslims were allowed to stage a public protest against the relocation of a 200-year-old Hindu Temple from another location in Shah Alam to their locality. The protestors were allowed to parade a severed cow’s head without interference from the police who were present and silent throughout the protest. The Malays spat at and placed their foot on the severed cow head. This has never been allowed to happen to the Hindus any where in the world except in Malaysia (see NST 31/8/09 at page 10). Yet, when HINDRAF held a peaceful candle light vigil, sixteen HINDRAF members including their Legal Adviser P. Uthayakumar were forcibly stopped and arrested. (see Makkal Osai report dated 6/9/09; page 14);

7.3 No permanent land for Indian places of worship, for burial grounds for settlements and for Tamil Schools Massive displacement of suburban Malaysian Indians followed when large plantations and estates were sold off to private holding companies who in turn sold them to Housing Developers who had ruthlessly sought to destruct structures of worship, schools and communities maintained by the marginalised Indians who faced daily harassment and intimidation of their homes, threat of relocation and loss of their indignity when moved at the whims and fancies of the authorities. The Malaysian government which since the 1957 independence legalise and gazette all Muslim places of worship, has persistently refused to do the same for all pre-existing Hindu temples and Hindu burial grounds since 17

independence, since all those Indian or Hindu settlements have become ‘illegal’ following the sale of those land to private concerns, usually UMNO relayed investors who then target those settlements for demolition.

7.4

Other use of Public Land •

•

•

•

•

8.0

Shanmugam, a third generation Indian cattle farmer has been operating his farm in KL. He stands to lose his farm but he has not been offered an alternative land by the UMNO led KL City Council. HRP has formally applied on behalf of Shanmugam for a farmland from the Prime Minister based on precedents that such land has been given out liberally to almost all needy Malay Muslims farmers.

Scores of houses occupied by former Indian plantation workers’ at Bukit Jalil, Wilayah Perseketuan is planned by UMNO’s DBKL and although there is an UMNO Plantation Workers Housing Scheme this option has been denied to these former plantation workers.

An Indian Heritage Village called Kampung Buah Pala (a land given in trust by the Brown family) where the villagers had lived for over 100 years were forced out and their homes was razed to the ground by the Penang State Opposition government and private developers.. The State Government fully acknowledge that the land was stolen from the villagers by the previous State government but they colluded with the developer anyway to evict the villagers using inducements, threats and State force. They razed the village down to the ground on the 3rd of September 2009.

There were two cattle farms on the land and they were demolished in this exercise. One of the owners was hounded afterwards by the State government Enforcement agency for allowing the cows to roam the residential areas because the cow pens had been demolished and he had no alternative.

Hounded to the extent that the cattle farmers Mr. Murugan succumbed to his heart ailment under the pressure of the hounding by the State Government on the 23rd of December 2009.

Reports in the Malaysian dailies indicate that on the average every day a Hindu temple or a Hindu burial ground or a Tamil school or an Indian settlement or Indian squatter homes are relocated, damaged, demolished or to be demolished. (ref MN 21/12/09 at page 15)

FORCED RELIGIOUS CONVERSION

Overview Forced religious conversions and religious intolerance are evidence of creeping Islamization in Malaysia. Whenever there is a conflict between Islam and Hinduism, the tendency is for Islam to prevail over the Hindu issue regardless of the merits of the case. This can be seen in the several cases of Indian Hindus who have found themselves or their children forcibly converted and are not able to reverse the process. This is an area where clearly minority rights are being deliberately overdrawn by the majority Muslims over minority ethnic Indians.

8.1 Factual background recorded by the HRP, Malaysia based on newspaper articles reported in Malaysian newspapers:: Examples of forced conversion: • A mother of two, S Banggarma, whose Muslim name is Siti Hasnah Vangarama Abdullah, claims that she was unknowly converted to Islam by state religious 18

authorities as a child while at a welfare home in Kepala Batas, Penang. She said she discovered this when seeking to register her marriage in 2000. Banggarma had apparently fled from the welfare home when she was 16 together with several inmates without taking any of her identity documents. "I was shocked when the NRD officers told me that I'm a Muslim convert by the name of Siti Hasnah. I was issued a MyKad with that name," She said due to her Muslim name, she could not register her marriage to Sockalingam, which was conducted according to Hindu rites. She was also unable to register her husband's name as the father in her children's birth certificates According to her, she was converted to Islam in 1989, when she was seven years old. Due to the conversion, Banggarma had difficulties in registering the birth of her two children - Kanagaraj, eight, and Hisyanthini, two – until last year."I finally managed to obtain birth certificates for my Hindu children through legal help. I also tried to change my name back to my original Hindu name in my MyKad twice.

But my attempts were unsuccessful," she said. In Malaysia as an adult she cannot revert to the religion of choice although this right is guaranteed for in Article 11 of the Federal Constitution.

•

Another example is Indira Gandhi, a Hindu lady had her a baby girl abducted by her husband who had converted to Islam without his ex wife’s knowledge just to spite her because of marital problems (see NST 28/4/09 at page 4). The Islamic authorities and the police had refused to secure her baby from her estranged husband despite a High Court Order in favour of applicant.

(The star Apr 24 2009)

•

Another example in Perak is that of Mr T Tharmakanoo whose estranged wife converted their two children to Islam without consent. (Conversion without consent http://www.thenutgraph.com/conversion-without-consent, 21st Apr 2009)

9.0

POVERTY AMONG INDIANS

Poverty is a historical feature of the vast majority of Indians, but a more disturbing feature is the oppressive and unjust system that traps the marginalised Indians into endemic condition of poverty. The impoverished Indians find themselves totally abandoned, by the system which is totally controlled by the biased and racist UMNO led government which relies on elected representatives from the ruling as well as opposition coalition and the elite Indian community. The hostile and insensitive racist UMNO controlled administration tend to exploit the marginalised Indians who due to their lack of education and knowledge of their entitlement deny them identity documentation that renders them stateless within Malaysia and that in turn excludes them from the basic fundamental and elementary rights of a Malaysian national.

9.1 Factual background recorded by the HRP, Malaysia based on newspaper articles reported in Malaysian newspapers:: •

•

Figures published in a local newspaper (the NST paper; dated 3/3/09; page 17) showed that the national average of poverty level in Malaysia is a mere 2.8 %.

Based on last year figures, 70% of the 2 Million Indians in Malaysia were on hardcore poverty line; Those earning below RM 720.00 per month, which is the recognised poverty income level, the government promised to supplement their income with a payment of RM 400.00 (USD approximately 100.00) per month. (see NST paper; dated 29/3/09; page 23). Thousands of Indians on the poverty line, the elderly, the ill and handicapped have been denied of the basic welfare help; 19

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

The government allocated RM 48 Million as welfare fund to meet assistance and housing rental payments as well as RM 174 Million for senior citizens. (see NST 24/10/2009 at page 10). The HRP Malaysia has learned that most of the Malaysia Indians who had applied for welfare assistance had their applications rejected at counter level; given the run around, or only granted a lower figure of RM 120.00 (USD 35.00) per month when the poverty line index was RM 687.00 (see The Star 24/10/2009; page N6). There were some instances when the payment of such fund was also was terminated after just a few months; a widow Madam Parameswary aged 47 years old; a diabetic who lives with her five children in a congested room at the back of a garage. Their toilet facilitate is an enclosure of zinc material with a piece of cloth as a doorway. One of her children, her daughter does not have a birth certificate. They cooking facilities is situation next to a drain and the washroom. She does not get any Welfare aid or a government flat. (reported in the TN;dated 6/1/09 page 14).

Another case involves twins named Sharmila and Shalini both aged 13 years old from Taman Sepilai near Kulim. They are born to a family of 7 siblings. Both suffer from deformities in their lower limbs and are totally incapable of moving about on their own. They both are strapped to their wheelchairs. Their father, Letchumanan is an oil palm plantation worker earning about RM 500 per month. He receives no welfare aid whatsoever.

(MN Nov 19 2009 pg 15) Punitha aged 31 years old and 8 months pregnant was forced to live in a storeroom with her five children. She plans to give up her unborn baby for adoption. Her daughter has been denied a birth certificate. Her other children have not attended school for the past two years for lack of funds (NST 8/2/09 page 26).

Pravinkumar an 18 year old teenager who suffered the loss of a leg in an accident that also killed both of his parents. He now has the care of his brothers aged 15 and 11 years of age. They have been denied government welfare help (report in the Tamil Nesan paper; dated 8/4/09; page 4); A monthly income of RM 478 (approximately USD 100.00) and below is considered to be poverty line. A sum of 44,643 households are said to be in this category. The government provides child allowances of RM 100.00 per child up to maximum of RM 450.00 per family. (NST 3/3/09). We estimate [as official figures are not available or published by the authorities] that about half a million Indians who fall within this category have been denied this state welfare help and according to HRP, Malaysia many of these Indians do not have ICs and consequently cannot avail of this entitlement.

Jeeva Santhrika gets about RM4 per day to feed 5 people. Her husband is in jail (because of a poverty related crime). There is no water and electricity supply in her squatter house. Both she, her husband and all five children have been denied birth certificates and of course as a result no identity documents. Which means they get none of the entitlements in the law. (although they are third, fourth and fifth generation Malaysian born). Jeeva Santhrika earns RM 10.00 per day, working in a second hand goods shop. She has to pay RM 3.00 for 10 pails of water from a neighbor and RM 3.00 to buy candles per day. Jeeva Santhrika has a balance of RM 4.00 per day to feed five mouths and also to feed herself. (The Star dated:18/12/09; page 51) Veeni Arjunan (35) , mother of seven earns RM 350.00 per month (USD 100.00) per month cannot even afford pay rentals on her basic accommodation and is to lose her home soon. (ref MN 21/11/09 at page 16) By far those deprived Indians tend to find lowly paid employment such as daily paid labourers or workers who are not formally registered as nationals and therefore they are not able to access essential entitlements in the law. We do not have any accurate

20

figure on such claimants due to the nature of their position however, it is HRP’s opinion due to their daily experience the figure might be significant.

9.2 Federal Government Poverty Eradication and Social Development Programs and Schemes The Malaysian Government has actively pursued Poverty Eradication as one of its core strategies from the inception of the nation, and accelerated the notion with the introduction of the New Economic Policy (NEP). The stated objectives of the NEP were: 1. To reduce absolute poverty irrespective of race through raising income levels and increasing employment opportunities for all Malaysians; and 2. To restructure society to correct economic imbalances so as to reduce and eventually eliminate the identification of race with economic function.

Both of the objectives above have both been met, however, the NEP which begun in 1971 as an affirmative action program, soon degenerated into an exclusive race based system where all the resources of the country were garnered and channelled by the UMNO political party to the leaders and members of the party trickling down to their Malay constituency.

This administration mirrors the South African Apartheid system. The NEP also produced a sea change in the social attributes of the majority Malay community and it has shut out the Indian community completely from the process of development, in spite of the stated objective of poverty eradication.

9.3 Factual background recorded by the HRP, Malaysia based on newspaper articles reported in Malaysian newspapers:: To administer the above programmes, the UMNO led government set up various Development Agencies to implement its various programs of the NEP. The major ones are: a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. k.

•

•

•

FELDA ( Federal Land Development Auhtority) FELCRA ( Federal Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority) RISDA (Rubber industry Smallholder Development Authority) MARA (Majlis Amanah Rakyat Malaysia) FAMA (Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority) KESEDAR(South Kelantan Development Authority) DARA( South East Pahang Development Agency) KEDA ( Kedah Development Authority) PERDA (Penang Regional Development Authority) KEJORA (South East Johore Development Authority) KETENGAH (Trengganu Regional Development Agency)

Large part of the National Budget was channelled through those agencies in respect of the various development programs for the rural and agricultural sector. All of those programs and projects only benefited the majority Malay community as affirmative actions. There was allocated fund in any of the programs and projects for Indians in the country. This is the scale of usurpation in the Agricultural Sector.

99.9% of low income Indians were denied agricultural land ownership in any and all of the schemes in the government run FELDA, FELCRA, RISDA, FAMA, Agropolition 10 acres land ownership schemes, This is also in the 13 State Government Land Schemes. We estimate only a token 0.1% Indian participation in all these schemes FELDA started as a modest program in 1956. Today it has become a giant organization. The schemes it manages now covers an area of 2 million acres and 21

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

touches the lives of more than 530,000 people, all Malays. The 2005 results of FELDA show a total turnover of RM 12 Billion. The profits are over 700 million.

FELDA's main role is to open up new land areas for agriculture and relocation of low income and landless rural inhabitants. The founding charter does not stipulate that this was to be a Malay Development Program but in reality the FELDA program is almost entirely for the Malay poor and landless.

The implementation of the above programmes, show clear evidence of systematic and wholesale exclusion of Indians from these programs. The Federal Constitution however makes no mention that the programs are for the exclusion benefit of the Malays.

12,000 FELDA agricultural land ownership schemes with 800,000 hectares and 200,000 RISDA land ownership plots of land but almost all Indian plantation workers have been excluded (see UM dated 20/3/09; page 16 and UM dated 6/2/09 page 14 respectively) The FELDA Jengka land ownership schemes has 98% Malay Muslims participation.

RM 1,200.00 per month for 10,000 poor in Gahai Land Ownership Schemes (UM dated 1/3/09; page 5). But the Indians have been completely excluded.

RM 58,000.00 per person in FELCRA Land Ownership Scheme dividends (UM 25/2/09 page 27). But again not a single Indian benefited from this FELCRA scheme.

429,375 hectares and 163,172 cows at the government Kawasan Tumpuan Sasaran (KTS) land ownership schemes (UM 24/3/09 page 9); but zero allocation for land for Indians under this scheme.

7,000 hectares of land for food production (NST 14/11/09 page 6). But we do not know of any Indian having been granted any piece of this 7,000 hectares of land.

The recent case of the Kampung Buah Pala Cattle farmers being pushed out of the land that they have been operating for over 150 years, without any relocation aid in Penang is an illustration of the above point. This unfortunate incident even led to the death of one of the cattle farmers, Mr Muruga, because of stress induced heart attack.

Another case study relates to Mr Shanmugam, a third generation Indian cattle farmer who has been operating his farm in KL. He stood to lose his livelihood with no alternative land available under the UMNOs’ DBKL. The HRP had formally applied on Mr Shanmugam’s behalf for a plot of farm land from the Prime Minister (appeal letter dated 14/12/09) based on precedents that such land were being granted liberally to almost all of the needy Malay Muslims farmers ( 22nd Dec 2009 www. humanrightspartymalaysia. com).

Malaysia imports 75% of its beef; 95% of its milk and 90% of its mutton. But a third generation cattle and goat farmer Mr Shanmugam was not given grazing land as would be granted to any other deserving Malay Muslim cattle farmer. In addition of the above disadvantage, his cattle farm is to be demolished very soon by the KL City Council. Indian farmers like Shanmugam are discriminated against for State assistance and in many cases they are even hounded out of their traditional farming occupation. When the City Council demolished his farm, the Veterinary Department offered to buy Mr Shanmugam’s cows and later offered to sell him milk for distribution.

Agropolitan is an initiative programme aimed at eradicating hardcore poverty through various agricultural and agro-based development projects. It brings together a group of hardcore poor into a sustainable, all-encompassing community. Each family head or main participant, will be involved in primary activities, either in palm oil, rubber or cocoa, and will be provided with monthly income and allotted shares. To the knowledge of the HRP, there is no known case of hardcore poor Indian who has benefited under the Agropolitan initiative.

22

10.0 LICENCES OCCUPATIONS

AND

PERMITS

FOR

TRADES

AND

REGULATED

Licences and permits are required for many trades and services so the UMNO racist Government in the name of regulating trade practices actually uses it to restrict participation in these services to its Malay majority constituency. Almost in every licensed trade the participation of Indians is extremely low to non-existent. Where permits are required, Indian participation is usually with rented permits from the middle Malay renter. Where Indians have created an advantage in a particular trade, they are harassed constantly with all kinds of restricting or hampering regulations. The scrap metal trade is one very glaring example.

10.1 Factual background recorded by the HRP, Malaysia based on newspaper articles reported in Malaysian newspapers:: •

•

•

•

10.2

1,400 new taxi permits were issued (UM 26/1/09 page 7). We estimate that about 40% of the taxi drivers are Indians but only 10% of the 40% were granted their own taxi permits or only about 4 % are permit holders. The rest of the taxi drivers have to rent their taxi permits from Malay Muslim companies and about 30% of their income would go towards payment of these permits.

85% of the scrap metal traders in Malaysia are Indians. According to the Malaysian Indian Metal Traders Association secretary General Mr.R.A. Param,(July 22 2008 The Star) the livelihood of the scrap metal trade has become more difficult because of approval has to be obtained from seven government departments – the Local Council, the Land Office, the Fire and Rescue department, the District Health Department, the Drainage and Irrigation department, Public Works Department and the Police. Many of the traders operate without licenses as a result and are harassed daily by the corrupted authorities. Contrast that with all of the support the Government provides for the majority Malay constituency.

Even as late as November 2009 of G. Subramaniam, the last few remaining Indian mini market owner of 30 years standing in Temerloh Pahang had his license to trade revoked. (The Star headlines 22/11/09).

We estimate that about 99.9% of the hundreds of thousands of Entrepreneurs created and to be created by the Rural and Regional Ministry, Agriculture and Agro Based Industry Ministry, MARA, SME Bank, Agro Bank, etc with hundreds of billions of government funds are denied to the Indians.

Government Contracts and Entrepreneur Development Programs

The racially motivated UMNO government has set up a tightly controlled system of Government procurement where intending vendors need to be cleared by the Ministry of Finance. The Finance Ministry only clears Malay vendors. Indians are effectively kept out of Government projects or contracts in this way. Also given the socio-economic status as Indians there is significant development effort that is required to develop an entrepreneurial class among Indians. There is at best only a cursory attempt at this, which anyway is paraded as a gigantic effort by the Mandores of UMNO and by UMNO. All the preferential treatment for budding entrepreneurs is reserved exclusively for the Malay entrepreneurs – preferential loans, technical advice, networking assistance, training and skill building. Indians receive nothing from any of this. It is not as if the Indians are lacking anyway in entrepreneurial energy, it is just that they are not allowed to develop by the extremely restrictive policies racial biased UMNO regime.

23

10.3 Factual background recorded by the HRP, Malaysia based on newspaper articles reported in Malaysian newspapers:: •

•

•

•

•

•

100 new franchise A & W outlets are operated by (Malay Muslim) Koperasi Usaha Bersatu (KUB) (UM 13/1/09 page 20) and 520 new (Malay Muslims) KFC outlets (UM 14/3/09 page 21). But the Indians have been excluded totally from all franchise business- examples of which are Mc Donalds, Burger King, Ayamas, Starbuck, Coffe Beans, Pizza Hut and so on.

Similarly for petrol stations such as Shell, Petronas, Mobil, Esso – these are lucrative because they are relatively risk free and recession proof award of licences for these retail outlets are regulated totally in favour of the Malay Majority while completely excluding Indian participation.

The lucrative Highway Rest Area Food Stalls and ‘tit-bit’ shops and government food stalls and trading opportunities at public places like the railway stations, bus stations, airports all systematically exclude Indians.

At festival times a large number of petty traders appear - 700 at Thaipusam festival at Batu Caves (TV1 Tamil news 8/2/09 at 7.30 p.m) and thousands of others at Hindu temples nationwide. But after the festivals, these thousands of Indian petty traders are denied the licenses and the opportunities to do business elsewhere on a permanent basis. The Malay Muslim traders are granted permission to operation their petty stalls at Pasar Malams (Night Market) throughout the country.

The Government through the issuing of APs regulates several product imports. None of the APs are approved to eligible Indians for example to import chicken the government imposes an AP Condition (refer UM 8/5/09 page 2). But these chicken importing AP are denied to all Indians. There is not a single Indian chicken importer in the country.

99% of the registered business is in the Small and Medium Scale Industries (SME) category and it accounts for 56% of the employment (NST 22/3/08 at page 20) in the labour market. There is no participation of Indians in this sector.

This portrays the real socio-economic status of the Indians coupled with a lack of support by the government, complete denial of development opportunities and unreasonable restrictions to deter any progress from Indian entrepreneurs.

•

•

•

RM 900 Million loans are approved for 40,000 Class F (95% Malay Muslim) contractors NST 11/1/09 page 5 and NST 24/2/09 at page 14 respectively.

RM 9.4 Billion worth of government jobs (NST 20/3/09 at page 8) are given out to this class of contractors. But again not a single Indian gets any government loans, government tenders, contracts or projects directly; but there are many who operate as sub contractors.

Bank Rakyat gives out RM 13.0 Billion worth of loans for government business (NST 25/2/09 page B9). But these Bank Rakyat loans are not available to the Indians.

RM 1.5 Billion in micro credit small business loans are given by the government through AIM, Tekun, BSN and Agro bank (UM 11/3/09 page 21).

But yet again we estimate that about 98% of the deserving Indians have been denied these loans. Only a token “show case” loans of a few thousand Ringgits or so are given to Indians. These are amplified by the racist UMNO government to give a picture of everything is equal and OK and that the Indians are actually benefiting from these RM 1.5 Billion loans.

24

•

•

Agro bank targets RM 5.7 Billion of agriculture loans this year. But we have hardly heard of any Indian given any part of these 5.7 Billion loans especially the traditional and pre existing cattle farmers.

Recently, late 2009, the government approved RM 2 million, to develop Indian entrepreneurs. or RM1 per Indian for the Two Million Indians in Malaysia in development funds. This is an insult to the Indian citizens of the country, yet UMNO persists in making these small gestures and then making a mountain of it in the media to create a perception of being active in promoting Indian interests.

11.0 HOUSING ISSUE Overview This is another critical area that requires significant Government intervention. A large proportion of the Indians in the urban areas today live in squatter settlements. Having been pushed out of the plantations they arrive in the cities into these squatter settlements. These settlements are located illegally and they run the danger of being demolished as soon as development begins in the area. The Government supposedly has a low cost housing solution, but woven in with all the other Human Rights issues and the resultant state of the Indian poor most can ill afford these low cost flats even where they are available.

11.1 Factual background recorded by the HRP, Malaysia based on newspaper articles reported in Malaysian newspapers:: •

•

•

•

• •

500,000 poor Indians have been and are in need of low cost houses and have been waiting for years. They have the option of renting these flats for RM 124.00 per month (NST 11/1/09 page 14).

We have received complaints from poor Indian squatters from Sentul K.L., forced to relocate to these low cost flats from squatter areas being unable to afford the RM 124.00 monthly rental payments.

In addition, taking up these flats means relocation, away from the places of work.

Many of them are unskilled workers. Relocation means losing their jobs and doing odd jobs elsewhere close to their new flats. And then when they cannot pay their rents the government seals off their houses after earlier disconnecting their water and electricity to get them to leave.

For the poor Malay Muslims in similar predicament, the Islamic Foundation Baitulmal “bails” them out by paying up their rental arrears and thereafter pays their rentals and water and electricity bills.

There is no support scheme like that for the Indian poor. So they either go back to other squatter settlements or they go on to the streets.

Even the Opposition Penang DAP state government ruthlessly and with impunity demolished Kampung Buah Pala the last Indian traditional village in Penang, in October 2009, just a few days before Deepavali despite the significant public campaigns against the demolition and evicted all the residents with little more than verbal inducements of alternative housing.

12.0 SUICIDE INCIDENTS IN THE INDIAN COMMUNITY Overview Suicide rates in the Indian community are highest in Malaysia compared to the other ethnic communities. It is 600% higher than the Malay Muslim community. This can only be 25

explained by the fact that the burden of life is heaviest on the Indians by virtue of their socioeconomic position. Low incomes, lack of appropriate literacy, family disputes, indebtedness, alcoholism and a critical sense of alienation and hopelessness are reasons cited in various researches conducted in the country to explain this unusually high rate of suicides among Indians. This ties into the overall problem of marginalization, a sense of hopelessness and a complete lack of desire on the part of the racist UMNO regimes to address the marginalization problem 12.1 Recent studies have shown increasing rates of suicides among the Indians. In a study done several years ago the number of suicides reported in that year there were 670 suicide deaths of Indians or about 600% more compared to 102 suicide deaths from the Malay community. (Source “ A Rising Social Problem” Malay Mail 18 Aug 1990).

•

In the year 2008 the Deputy Minister for Women, Family and Community Development, G Palanivel revealed that 30-35 Malaysian Indians per 100,000 comitted or attempted to commit suicide annually as compared to 10-12 Malaysians per 100,000 on the average or 3times the Malaysian average.

•

There have been several reports of Indian Mothers committing suicide and attempting in that one stroke to kill their own children before taking their own lives.

The most recent case was that of Seetha of Gemencheh Negri Sembilan. Seetha, who could not take the grief of her little brother Surendran’s death . Surendran was shot dead by the Malaysian Police in cold blood on the 8th of November 2009. In her grief she decided to take her life and those of her 4 children on the 12th of November.

She gave everyone Paraquat to drink, telling her children that they will be able to meet their Uncle if they all drank the medicine. All of them drank it. She passed away several days later, her children survived.

13.0 GOVERNMENT FUND ALLOCATIONS IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BUDGET Overview The approach to National resource application is nothing but a reflection of the priorities of the raci.st UMNO government. And Indian issues are at the bottom of their priorities. Of the budgeted expenditure of 191.5 Billion Ringgits for 2010 there is no indication of specific allocation for any programs or projects for the needs of the poor and marginalized Indians.

Even allocations promised in the 2009 budget for the upgrade of Tamil schools, miniscule as it is has not been disbursed and 2009 is over by the time you read this. This approach of usurping all resources to their needs is characteristic of the racist UMNO government.

13.1 Factual background recorded by the HRP, Malaysia based on newspaper articles reported in Malaysian newspapers:: •

•

The total expenditure budget for the Malaysian Government for 2010 was set at RM 191.5 Billion; but the UMNO Government has not established a welfare program to help the hardcore poor Indians with welfare payments above the level of what it says is the threshold income for hardcore poor.

RM One Billion has been allocated to improve the services of the Malay-sian Police (NST 24/10/2009 at page 28). But the Malay-sian government refuses to allocate even a fraction of that RM 1 Billion to keep especially the Indian youths out of crime by giving them the licences, loans, skills training as given by PNS, MARA, Bank Rakyat, Entrepreneur Development Ministry and the Agriculture and Agro based Industry Ministry to the Malay Muslims youths abundantly to open up and operate 26

•

•

Petronas, Shell, Mobil and Esso petrol stations, KFC, Mc Donalds, A & W, Ayamas and scores of other franchise outlets, food stalls and titbit outlets at the scores of low rental and high yieding highway rest areas, government buildings, government built food courts and thousands of other government supported businesses.

Our request for RM 10 Billion to put the Indians into the national mainstream development of Malaysia was rejected without even a formal reply to our official letter dated 3/10/09.

RM100 million for Tamil Schools was allocated in the 2009 budget but which has not been disbursed because (according to UMNO explanations) the costs of building had escalated. We suspect it may not get disbursed as the financial situation of the Government is deteriorating and expenditure for Indian causes always is seen as a low priority expenditure.. Another interesting aspect to this allocation is – this RM100 million was supposed to be used for upgrade all the 523 Tamil schools in the country, compared to RM120 million for one elite MRSM school in Trolak, Perak, which is primarily meant for the Malays.

14.0 CHILDREN Overview Young Malaysian Indians face significant lack of opportunities and hurdles in acquiring tertiary education. Admission to Public universities are through the extremely difficult PreUniversity program of STPM (Higher School Certificate) for Non Malays, compared to the much easier pre-University program of Matriculation for the Malays. Despite the high threshold imposed upon non-Malaya students, very limited places are allocated for Malaysian Indians, with most going to the less desired programs. Student scholarships and loans are very limited for ethnic Indian students. Many ethnic Indian students choose to go abroad for their tertiary education like India, Indonesia, Russia, and Romania, to improve on their future opportunities, in many cases using their parents’ life savings. The government decided to plug this opportunity to non-Malaya students by introducing a requirement to have special certification to study abroad. Such student would also not be entitled to apply to the government for scholarships or loans from the Government Higher Education Fund.

The Malaysian Government education policy plainly deters Indian Malaysians to acquire tertiary education in large enough numbers so to maintain their supremacy agenda and therefore places all kinds of obstacles to reduce progress amongst Indian students.

15.0 CITIZENSHIP AND NATIONALITY Overview on Basic Citizen Rights of Birth Certificates and National Identity Documents and Citizenship In the ethnocentric system that operates in Malaysia, the ruling UMNO regime seeks to increase its political advantage by reducing the population of ethnic groups that are not its basic constituency and to increase those that are of its basic constituency - Malay or Muslim.

The fact that there are so many Indians without birth certificates and/or identity documents, which stands at about150,000 to 200,000, is wilful neglect of the government which makes it for those without documentation to correct their positions. This problem is perpetuated and amplified by the UMNO regime becomes clear when contrasted with the way Muslim immigrants are treated from neighbouring countries such as Indonesia and Philippines. They are readily given citizenships as evidenced in the increasing numbers in some cases very sharply in Sabah of the Malay Muslims category. The compulsion to hang on to power

27

according to the rules of the ethnocentric political system appears to be the root cause of this problem.

15.1 Factual background recorded by the HRP, Malaysia based on newspaper articles reported in Malaysian newspapers:: •

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

93,360 birth certificates were processed in 2009 for children and others without proper birth certificates as reported by the ministry of Home Affairs.(UM 14/11/09 page 4). We estimate that there at least 150,000 third, forth and fifth generation Malaysian born Indian children who have been denied birth certificates and are currently therefore stateless.

Malaysians have to go through a very arduous procedure of providing proof of birth of the child, parents’ marriage, parents’ citizenship proof and then be sent back several times because the applications are not complete or incorrect and then interviewed before this birth certificate will be issued. This is deliberate policy of the government to contain the population of non Malay Muslims in the country.

An example of a child without a birth certificate is one named Darshini (11) who was denied her birth certificate because her mother had not registered her birth within the required 42 days as her father was away working. He works as a crane driver in Penang. She has been told to leave her school. The Malaysian authorities rejected her application so many times so much so that she has stopped trying (Naragan Malaysiakini 23/1/09 5.19 p.m). The over reaching consequences are that children like Darshini cannot enter education such as basic, elementary and further; cannot obtain a driver’s licence for any vehicle; cannot get a job except an unskilled factory work or as a lowly paid security guard or lowest paid unskilled labourer; Compared to the above, in Late 2009 there was a huge campaign by the National Registration Department to go into the interior of the Sarawak state to register births of children and to provide birth certificates to these children.

Simarily, in Sabah where there has been an unexplained large increase in the population in a category of citizens called Other Bumiputras. The discrepancy in the percentage increase between Kadazan, Dusun, Murut on the one hand and other Bumiputera between 1970 and 2000 i.e. 236 per cent and 631 per cent respectively.

The discrepancies in the population increase between 1970 to 2000 in Sabah, and West Malaysia: 636,431 to 2,449,389 or up by 285 percent in Sabah, 10,439,430 to 22,202,614 or up by 113 percent in Malaysia( Malaysiakini, 6/10/2008 - Sapp: 'Loopholes' behind IC scam.).

Most of the Other Bumiputras increase has been from illegal Muslim immigrants from Southern Philipines to change the ethnic composition of the State to be favorable to the racist UMNO regime. These facts, were amongst the many other points that were disclosed by MP for Sepanggar, Datuk Eric Majimbun.

However, the government has taken no similar steps to resolve the problem for the 150,000 ethnic Malaysian born Indian children. The issue appears to be related to an ethnic group which the majority Malaya led government lacks the will and the interest to address; Another estimated 200,000 third, forth and fifth generation Malaysian born Indians have been denied their Malaysian citizenships and are currently been made stateless; An example of an Indian family in Kulim Kedah who are effectively stateless even though they have lived in Malaysia at least four generations. Mariappan is an odd job laborer, his wife, works occasionally as a cleaner in a restaurant. He and his wife do not have Identity Cards; his 3 children have no birth certificates. He and his wife cannot find legitimate jobs because they do not possess ICs. His marriage to his wife is not registered, again for the same reason. Two of his children are attending a nearby Tamil school, where two out of about twenty children are without birth 28

•

certificates in that school. Soon these children will be asked to leave school because they have no birth certificates or Identity cards.

Chow Kitt Road in Kuala Lumpur is famous for its open markets largely run by recent immigrants from Indonesia. These people have been granted Citizenships. They obtain their citizenship even though they are not born here or meet the other stated criteria of the Government. This is because these people fulfill the UMNO racist regime need to increase the malay Muslim census numbers.

16.0 EDUCATION Overview Only a handful of seats in Medical Faculties of the Malaysian Government Universities are available to Indians. Exact statistics are not available but it is estimated to be around 1 - 2 percent of the places. An estimated 90% of deserving Indian students is denied places in the 20 Government run Universities in Malaysia.

16.1 Factual background information recorded by the HRP, Malaysia reported in Malaysian newspaper articles: •

•

• •

•

•

•

Indians students are excluded from the 200,000 places in University UiTM which only admits the Malay Muslim students (Utusan Malaysia 1/1/09). However, about 10% of the intake every year into UiTM are foreign students who come from Muslim countries; There are 62,000 diploma places and 60,000 degree places for 2010 at 27 Polytechnics in Malaysia (see NST 22/11/09 at page 25). Based on previous information, we estimate that a mere 0.1% of these places will be allocated for Indian students regardless of their qualifications; 8,132 Phd graduates are produced from the 20 government Universities (The Star 2/12/09 at page 20). We estimate that a mere 0.1% of these candidates are Indians; There are 163,779 students studying at the 20 government Universities nationwide at an annual expenditure cost of RM 2.6 Billion. Our estimate is a mere 1% of this expenditure and/or University places will be available to Indian Malaysian students.

Dr.Mahathir decided to restrict the number of students studying medicine in various universities in Russia after a visit in 2003. Most of the Malaysians there were from Indian families, who had raised personal loans to put their children through a medical school for lack of places in Malaysian universities for reasons explained earlier. In contrast, India, Russia, Romania, and Indonesia universities provided affordable alternatives. The Malaysian Government however decided to reduce those alternatives open to the Malaysian Indian students by derecognising those universities despite a shortfall of doctors in Malaysia by 50% (UM 8/10/09 at page 29).

The Malaysian Government instituted a new scheme of “No Objections Certificates” to be issued by the Ministry of Education in the name of maintaining education standards before students can go abroad for studies (NST 9/3/09 page 16) This is to further curtail Indian students from pursuing their studies overseas in the face of lack of opportunities locally The government is recruiting doctors from ( mostly from Muslim countries) overseas.

But dozens of Malaysian Indian doctors qualified from India, Indonesia, Ukraine, Russia, Romania etc had their degrees deliberately derecognized in order to curtail the number of Indian doctors in Malaysia.

29

•

•

•

•

•

•

• •

•

•

•

•

•

•

To the contrary (because of the lower standards of Medical schools in the local Universities, the European Union has with effect from 1990 derecognized even University Malaya’s (the oldest Malaysian University) Medical degree (NST 19/3/09 page 12) RM 2.8 Billion is allocated for the 2010 National Budget for students assistance scholarships but only an estimated 1% may reach the Indian students. Most of the funds go for scholarships to Malay Muslim Students.

1,266,671 students have benefited from the government PTPTN (Government Higher Education Loan Fund) study loans till 2009. 147,441 such loans were approved at RM 17.0 Billion (UM (UMNO) 25/3/08 at page 31).

But thousands of private Indian medical students studying in Russia, Ukraine, Romania, India and Indonesia have been denied these loans. Similarly Indian students studying at private Universities and Institutions of Higher Learning have also been denied these study loans; Contrast that with the following scheme for Malay Muslim students going abroad to do Medicine. Kolej Teknologi Timur in Sepang,which has graduated its 4th batch of students on what is called the Kursus Intensif Timur Tengah (Middle East Intensive Course). This is a 3 month program preparing MARA sponsored students selected to do medicine in the Alexandria University in Cairo. This programme is specifically designed to cater for Malay Muslim students; PTPTN study loans and scholarships are denied to Indian students studying medicine, law, engineering overseas and to almost all Indian students studying at the scores of private Universities and Institutions of Higher Education.

Even in the Malaysia Indian Congress (MIC) sponsored AIMST University and TAFE College, PTPTN loans and scholarships are denied to the Indian students.

10,000 scholarships were given out to local University and 2,000 to foreign University students. But we estimate a mere 1% for local universities and 0.1% for foreign university scholarships are given to Indians no matter their qualifications (NST 22/3/09 page 12).

A case study involving a student named, Dominic Raju who achieved 9A’s and 1B for for SPM (O’Levels), 5A’s in UPSR, 7As in PMR. His father passed away when Raju was 11 years old and he and his mother were living on her Socso pension. But Raju was denied a scholarship by Yayasan TM, Yayasan TNB, Khazanah, Bank Negara and UEB and a place to do matriculation at a government University (NST 21/4/09 page 8) (“Res Ipsa Loquiteour” The facts speak for themselves).

2,000 (with government loans and scholarships) have been trained by the Aviation Training Centre since 1998 as aero machines, technicians, and Engineers (UM IPTA 4/409 at page 9) But we are yet to hear of any Indians ever having been admitted into his centre or graduating from it.

1,513 trainee pilots with government loans and scholarships were produced from the seven flying academies in Malaysia (NST 3/309 page 13). But we have hardly heard of any Indian ever qualifying from any of these academies.

60,000 Phd holders to be produced by 2015 under the government’s Mybrain Programme (UM (UMNO) 25/3/09 at page 31). But we estimate only 0.1% of the Indians taken into this programme however academically qualified they are.

The Government plans to produce 100,000 PhDs by 2024. UiTM has a post graduate school called IPSis (Institut Pengajian Siswazah) which has been in operation since 1997. They are targeting to have 20,000 students in their various Post Graduate programs by 2024. They are considering a scheme of assistanceship programs for the better students of RM 1,300 for a Masters student per month and RM1,800 for a PhD student. This is a 100pct Malay Muslim participation program. No Indian can dream of getting into this UiTM. Only 4 (1.45%) students out of 581 new student intake at the Sultan Idris Teachers Training College for the year 2009 (TN 3/1/08 at page 16).

30

16.2.

•

• •

• •

•

•

16.3.

Skills, Vocational & Technical Training There is an allocation of RM 438 Million to Institute Kemahiran Mara and Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi Mara, Institut Kemahiran Belia Negara and Institut Kemahiran Tinggi Belia Negara.These skills training institutions are all almost exclusively for the Malay Muslims.

Almost no Indians are allowed entry into these Mara training centers although the UMNO propaganda is that about 10% of the Indians are allowed; Compare thus with allocation of RM 2 Million government allocation for two million Indians in Malaysia @ RM1.00 per Indian head to create Indian entrepreneurs (TN 31/3/09 page 13) The IKLS Institution trained 2,000 future entrepreneurs (UM Mega 17/4/09 page 12).

But we are yet to hear of a single Indian who has benefited from such schemes.

Kolej Risda in Alor Gajah in Melaka – RISDA Rubber Industry Smallholder Development Authority) run private college, developing middle level management, technical and operative level manpower for the Agro Industry.

It runs various Diploma level programs in Agriculture with University Putra Malaysia, Diploma in Plantation management with MARA, A pre-Diploma in Science program as a feeder program to the Diploma programs and Diploma in Landscape Management. There are programs such as Certificate as a Plantation Conductor and a Certificate as a Palm Oil Mill Operator. All the students of the college will be assisted to get funding from the PTPN (National Higher Education Fund) and scholarships are provided to second generation small holders; This is a 100 pct Malay Muslim program. There is no Indian student Intake at all to our knowledge in this scheme for Rubber industry smallholders.

SECONDARY SCHOOL EDUCATION

Elite schools are completely out of bounds for all Indian secondary school students despite them all qualifying according to criteria established by the Malaysian Government for the Malay Muslim Students.

Highly accomplishing Indian students do not get the opportunity for all round and focused development that is available in the Mara Junior Science Colleges or the fully residential schools.

80% of Indian Malaysian Students do not go beyond Form 5 because a combination of factors, but mostly relating to poverty and lack of any institutional support whatsoever.

Overview There are 42 fully residential elite Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) (Mara junior Science College) (NST 5/4/08) with 12,440 places also in the fully residential schools (BH 21/11/09 at page 7). These schools have been almost exclusively for Malay Muslim students. Most of the 817 Tamil school pupils who had scored 7A’s(MO, TN and MN headlines on 20/11/09) (the maximum 5As’ in Malay schools) and become more than eligible to enter the MRSMs in 2009 will be denied places in these elite schools. Each of the MRSM schools cost around RM100 million to build. Indians are also almost 100% excluded in other elite schools like the Royal Military College, Aminuddin Baki Institution, Matriculation courses and the Malay College Kuala Kangsar.

31

RM 20 Million have been allocated for 20 high performances schools @ RM 1 Million per school. But almost zero Malaysian Indians are admitted into these schools.80% Indian pupils had (been forced) stopped schooling after 5th Form (O’ Levels) (Malaysiakini/10/07-Lim Teck Ghee, Asli).

16.4

PRIMARY SCHOOL EDUCATION

Overview The State of Tamil schools where 50% of all Indian children in the country go to continue to be a major issue for education for the Indian Poor and marginalized. The key theme in Tamil School education system seems to be a lack of all kinds of basic resources.

In the Malay Muslim school system the theme seems to be to produce excellence. In the Chinese school system the theme seems to be to produce world class and competitive citizens. Whereas the Indian Tamil school system is groveling with basic issues. This foundation level education is suffering very badly due to systematic neglect by the Malaysian UMNO racist Government.

16.5 The Factual background information recorded by the HRP, Malaysia reported in Malaysian newspaper articles: • • •

•

•

•

•

•

50% of the 200,000 Indian students attend the National Primary School system.

50% or about 100,000 students attend the Tamil Primary schools in an even split; These 100,000 students attend 523 Tamil schools. 371 of these primary schools are denied full government financial assistance even after 52 years of independence.

289 of these are located in the plantations 99% Malay Muslim Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) in Trolak Perak was set up at a cost of RM 120 million. All 523 Tamil schools in Malaysia had been promised RM 100 Million allocation under the 2009 first and second economic stimulus packages: So far, zero of these funds from this RM 100 Million has flowed down to any of the said 523 Tamil schools (Refer to The Star 30/09/2009 and our aforesaid letter to Prime Minister Najib dated 13/10/2009) and this allocation is for 2009 and the year is up; RM 30 Billion for 80 new schools, 1,100 additional blocks and 347 chool replacement projects; to refurbish, upgrade schools, pre-school education performance schools in the 2010 national budget. But about two thirds of the Tamil medium schools are in a pre war and dilapidated if not near cow shed conditions; 817 Tamil schools pupils scored 7As’ (Headlines MN, TN and MO on 20/11/09) but we estimate a mere 1% of these 817 pupils will get to enter the 12,440 Mara and fully government residential schools (BH 21/11/09 at page 7); State land has yet to be allocated to most of the partially aided Tamil schools in the country. Scores of Tamil school land are snatched (or disappears in thin air as in the Tamil movie “Athipatti”) or schools are told to relocate to another place or another nearby Malay or Chinese school) (refer TN 18/4/09 page 3).

32

•

16.6

Many Tamil Primary Schools are located in places which clearly they should not be located because of the little children that study and play there. Because of the total neglect of education for Indians in the country these things are allowed to continue.

To name a few - there is a Petrol station building next to the Jalan Silibin Tamil School in Ipoh. Another School in which an incident did occur is in Shah Alam Tamil School where scores of Indian students were recently admitted to hospital as a result forced inhalation of petrol fumes from the adjacent Petrol Station. Imagine if they had died. The Old Klang Road Saraswathy Tamil Schools is another such school which stands between four Petrol station and a flyover just feet away from the school.

PRE -SCHOOL EDUCATION

Overview Given the fact that Indian children education is of low priority for the Malayisan racist UMNO government it will be too far fetched that they will give pre-school education of Indian children any priority. Rightfully so, as a result of which most of the poor children do not get the Pre-school education that should be their right.

16.7 Factual background information recorded by the HRP, Malaysia reported in Malaysian newspaper articles: •

All Primary schools in the National Schools system have pre-school facilities. But many of the Tamil schools do not have these pre-school facilities. So Indian children in many cases just start without any pre- school education.

•

RM 100 Million has been allocated for the Budget year 2010 for Pre-School program of Early Permata childcare and education in 457 childcare centers nation wide nurturing 17,565 children.

•

But none of these children are likely going to be Indian children except for a few namesake Indian children who have been “advertised” and made show pieces in the government’s mainstream media.

17.0 HUMAN RIGHTS – SPECIFIC ISSUES Overview on Racially Motivated Discrimination by UMNO One of the key ways by which this racist system is perpetuated is through the implementation arm, the Administration. All of the Administration is effectively manned by Malays majority of whom are members of UMNO or supporters. This is just like in Apartheid South Africa where at the height of the Apartheid system 500,000 all white administration ran South Africa. This racist administration is indoctrinated with the Malay supremacist ideology by the indoctrination arm called the Biro Tata Negara. The UMNO controlled Utusan Malaysia, a Malay daily continuously spews out racist distortion of events but going by the adage a lie told a hundred times can become the truth, it influences the Malay world outlook and contributes to significant polarization among the peoples of different ethnicity. Racial discrimination is visible in most day to day interactions between the Indians and the Administration and also in all the aspects of life of the common Indian people – the discriminatory practices are so evident. The Human Rights and Minority Rights violation do not need further discussion as its erosion and denial is abundantly clear from the situation cited below.

33

17.1 Factual background information recorded by the HRP, Malaysia reported in Malaysian newspaper articles: The Government is the largest employer in the country and has 1.2 million employees. If teachers of Chinese and Tamil were taken out more than 95% of these employees would be Malays. In effect the entire Administration can be said to be Malay. This becomes another pillar in the perpetuation of the racist system. This is akin to the Administration of South Africa during the Apartheid days where the entire Administration was made up of whites, some 500,000 of them.

Such an ethnically homogeneous Administration did not happen by accident. It happened by design of UMNO to facilitate the implementation of the various UMNO/Malay/Muslim biased policies.

To further ensure implementation of the UMNO/Malay/Muslim biased policies the employees are put through an UMNO/Malay/Muslim slanted education program called Biro Tata Negara. 1,016,749 civil servant " graduates" have been put through this Education at a cost of RM 55 Million per year to implement the UMNO led government’s racist and religious extremist policies against and in particular the Indians (refer UM Bulletin 27/6/09 at page 19).

This indoctrination ensures the blocking of the non-Malay Indians and th promotion and support of the Malays.

What this pillar of racism does is: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Applications for entitlements are rejected on slightest reason Ensuring information on entitlements are blocked out from the eligible Indians Ensuring it is difficult for the Indian Malaysian poor to register as citizens of the country Ensure that lower level policies are in line with the overall racist bent of the higher-level policies Ensure statistics of the disbursements or acceptance or selections are kept away from the non-Malays –Indians Ensure interpretation of policies is such as to disfavour Indians Make the procedures for various applications in respect to the Government unduly complicated for Indians

The State controlled mass media especially the Utusan Malaysia seeks to project a very racist interpretation of events and happenings in the country. News is always presented with a twist to make it favorable to UMNO position. This results in continuing polarization among the people of different ethnic groups. For example in a recent piece in Utusan Malaysia we have the editor Zaini Hassan writing "Tak apalah. Orang Melayu tidak seperti orang India , walaupun ada juga Melayu yang darah keturunan keling (DKK), tapi darah Melayu yang lembut banyak menguasai mereka."

(Never mind. The Malays are not like Indians, although some of them have 'keling' blood,but the 'soft' Malayblood in them is overwhelming).

Noisy... that is their culture. This article is penned by an Editor of the largest malay Daily in the country and an organ of UMNO. (http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2009&dt=1209&pub=utusan_malaysia &sec=Rencana&pg=re_10.htm&arc=hive) RM 2.3 Billion has been allocated to construct and upgrade infrastructure in rural areas. But many roads to plantations, to Indian settlements, to 34

Hindu temples, Tamil schools and Hindu crematoriums are either still sand and muddy roads or roads with full of potholes, because there is no allocation like this.

RM 88 Million to implement 5, 356 social amenities like rural clinics, Community halls, recreational areas (NST 24/10/2009 at page 29). But government clinics with qualified government doctors are denied in the estates with mostly Indians even up to this date.

Estate hospitals with Hospital assistance are still in existence •

Recreational areas and community halls are not built in Indians areas. Hundreds of football fields in Indian settlements have been wiped out.

RM 2 Billion has been disbursed in the form of aid for school children Especially the poor students (NST 18/10/2009 at page 3) But the poor Indians have been excluded. The reasons given for not giving this aid to Indian students is always very flimsy. This discrimination at the school level is directly an outcome of the BTN conditioning.

• Similarly RM 2 Billion rebate for Malay Muslim Padi subsidies (NST 18/10/2009 at page 3). Compare with a total lack of allocation for the poor and needy Indians • Similarly RM 850 Million as social safety net for the poor, disabled and senior citizens (NST 18/10/2009 at page 3) but this allowance has also not reached the poor Indians.

•

P.Waytha Moorthy Barrister at Law Lincoln’s Inn Chairman HINDRAF Mobile: +447502289313 Email: waytha@hotmail.com For further information please visit www.humanrightspartymalaysia.com

35

ATTACHMENTS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: (1)

(2)

Photographs (i) (a) (b)

Abuse of Police Power Death of Kugan whilst in Police Detention Other Victims of Police Torture

(ii) (c) (d)

Lack of respect for Freedom of Religion and Language Demolition of Hindu Temples Land and Aid Disputes over Tamil Schools

(iii) (e)

Lack of Social Support Land dispute over housing for Tamil residents

(iv) (f)

Denial of Nationality Dispute over citizenship and registration of births

References (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)

The U.S State Department Reports 2005 – 2009 The Country Information Report (UK) 2009 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (2008 Report) Malaysian Newspapers articles published in the – News Straits Times; Tamil Nesan; The Star; Utusan Malaysia; Berita Harian; Makkal Osai; Malaysian Nanban; The Sun; Malay Mail; Malasiakini.

Prepared 23 February 2010

36